Israeli War Crimes in Lebanon

This report documents serious violations of international humanitarian
law (the laws of war) by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Lebanon between July
12 and July 27, 2006, as well as the July 30 attack in Qana. During this
period, the IDF killed an estimated 400 people, the vast majority of them
civilians, and that number climbed to over 500 by the time this report went
to print. The Israeli government claims it is taking all possible measures
to minimize civilian harm, but the cases documented here reveal a
systematic failure by the IDF to distinguish between combatants and
civilians.

Since the start of the conflict, Israeli forces have consistently launched
artillery and air attacks with limited or dubious military gain but
excessive civilian cost. In dozens of attacks, Israeli forces struck an
area with no apparent military target. In some cases, the timing and
intensity of the attack, the absence of a military target, as well as
return strikes on rescuers, suggest that Israeli forces deliberately
targeted civilians.

The Israeli government claims that it targets only Hezbollah, and that
fighters from the group are using civilians as human shields, thereby
placing them at risk. Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah
deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF
attack. Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes
and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near U.N.
observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war because they
violate the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian
casualties. However, those cases do not justify the IDF's extensive use of
indiscriminate force which has cost so many civilian lives. In none of the
cases of civilian deaths documented in this report is there evidence to
suggest that Hezbollah forces or weapons were in or near the area that the
IDF targeted during or just prior to the attack.

By consistently failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians,
Israel has violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the laws of war:
the duty to carry out attacks on only military targets. The pattern of
attacks during the Israeli offensive in Lebanon suggests that the failures
cannot be explained or dismissed as mere accidents; the extent of the
pattern and the seriousness of the consequences indicate the commission of
war crimes. . . .